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About trauma
A traumatic experience is something that we find very distressing or harmful. Trauma describes the effect of this experience on our lives.
There isn't a rule for what counts as a traumatic experience. What matters is the effect it has on us.
Whether you've experienced something traumatic in the past or are experiencing it now, it's important that you know where to get support.
This page explains how traumatic experiences might affect us and how this can relate to our mental health. Understanding trauma is the first step in finding support and ways to cope with it.
What's on this page?
Jump to information on:
How can I cope if I'm struggling with trauma?
We have tips and ideas on how to cope and where to get support.
Trauma isn't measured by how bad someone else has it, it's measured by what your body has been living through - Jenna, 18
What is trauma?
We might sometimes hear the terms trauma and traumatic experience used to describe the same thing. But they have slightly different meanings.
A traumatic experience is something that might make us:
- Feel very frightened
- Feel helpless
- Feel extremely overwhelmed
- Struggle to cope with everyday life
- Struggle with difficult feelings for a long time
Trauma is the effect of this experience on our feelings, thoughts and lives.
Trauma is personal. Certain things might feel traumatic to us, but not to someone else. Different people have different reactions to the same events for lots of reasons. This includes how much support we have and any other stress we're going through.
It's important to be kind to ourselves and remember that our experiences are valid. If you're struggling with difficult feelings, it's always OK to seek help. Even if you're not sure whether you're experiencing trauma.
The trauma that you experience is personal to yourself, so you can't compare your reactions or coping mechanisms to other people's… it can be good to think about how the experience made you feel. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, even just a little bit, then it's not OK, and you deserve help – Eva, 17
Types of trauma
Trauma can be caused by:
- A single event, like an accident
- A series of events, like experiencing abuse or discrimination
- Lots of events that happen in different areas of our life, like at home and school
- Something that has happened to us directly, like being bullied either in person or online
- Something that we learn about happening to someone else, for example on social media or in the news
- Something that happened when we were younger, like experiencing abuse in childhood
- Something that happened to someone close to us, like a family member
- Something that affects a whole community, sometimes called ‘collective trauma’
- The way an organisation treats us, like if we're badly treated by health professionals, the police or in the care system
I originally thought that trauma had to be from a life-or-death situation… it can be a lot more nuanced than that – CJ, 18
Trauma and discrimination
We might experience discrimination because of certain parts of who we are. Like our gender, race, sexuality or religion. Discrimination can cause trauma.
For example, if we experience racism, this can lead to racial trauma. This means that racism is affecting our mental health. We might also experience trauma if we're treated badly because we're LGBTQIA+. Or because we're neurodivergent, like if we're autistic.
We might experience trauma from discrimination in lots of ways, to do with different parts of our identity. For example, if we're a trans person of colour, we might face transphobia and racism. Remember, this is not your fault.
If you've experienced discrimination, abuse or bullying, either in person or online, you can:
- Report hate crimes in certain areas through Stop Hate UK
- Speak to someone by contacting Childline
- Find useful contacts for specific identities and communities
There are so many layers to carry – cultural expectations, religious stigma around mental health, and then on top of that, facing racism or being misunderstood by wider society – Kristina
Traumatic experiences in childhood
Traumatic experiences that happen when we're young can affect our development and mental health. These effects can last a long time.
This doesn't mean that we'll all struggle if we go through a traumatic experience in childhood. Or that we'll all struggle in the same ways. But it means that we should receive support. And that others should recognise how our early experiences can cause trauma and still affect us now.
I think that often traumatic experiences at a young age are almost written off a bit, due to the fact that they might be seen as insignificant or something that people will grow out of – Eva, 17
Trauma in families
If a close family member has experienced trauma, it can affect us too. We might hear this called ‘intergenerational trauma’.
Researchers are still learning about how trauma gets passed down in families. For example, it might come from us feeling unsafe after learning about our family's past experiences. Even if this hasn't happened to us directly.
Trauma and stigma
We all understand and respond to trauma differently. And our views on trauma can be shaped by things like our culture and religion.
But some people might say or do things that feel hurtful or upsetting if we tell them about our trauma. They might share unhelpful views or react in an unsupportive way. We may also see these unhelpful views in the news or on social media. This is called ‘stigma’.
Stigma against trauma can mean that someone might:
- Not take our trauma seriously, like saying it's something we should grow out of
- Tell us not to think or talk about our difficult experiences, or suggest that it's wrong to speak up
- Not understand how we're coping, like suggesting that we're ‘acting out’ or ‘misbehaving’
- Use the word trauma in a casual way, like using it to mean any experience that is slightly difficult
If someone is stigmatising trauma, you could show them this information to help them understand.
I felt isolated because I was the only person who treated the situation as seriously as it should've been – CJ, 18
How can trauma affect me?
Trauma can affect us in lots of ways. You might notice different effects at different times.
You might experience these effects right after a traumatic event, or a long time afterwards. You might recognise some of the effects below but not others.
This information covers the trauma responses we might notice related to:
Trauma responses in the brain and body
When we sense danger, our brain responds to try and protect us. Trauma can make our brain and body continue to respond to this ‘danger’ for a long time. Even when we're safe, we might still feel unsafe and keep responding to what feels like danger.
We might experience 1, some or all of these responses when we feel unsafe. These are called the fight, flight, freeze, flop and fawn (or friend) responses:
- Fight. Our brain is telling us to fight against the danger. We might feel very angry and want to shout or argue. We might feel we need to control what's going on.
- Flight. Our brain is telling us to run away from the danger. We might feel that we need to keep busy all the time. And we might feel trapped and like we need to escape.
- Freeze. Our brain is telling us to stop moving or making any noise. This is to avoid a dangerous thing or person noticing us.
- Flop. This is like freezing, but with much stronger effects that might last longer. Our body might go floppy and we could feel numb.
- Fawn (or friend). This means our brain is telling us that the best way to stay safe is to please others. Especially people who feel dangerous to us. We might say sorry a lot and put other people's needs before ours.
These reactions aren't weaknesses but part of the body's way of protecting itself.
How might these responses feel in my body?
During a fight or flight response, we might notice some of these effects in our body. These responses are a way of preparing the body to quickly respond to danger:
- A fast heartbeat. This helps blood get to our muscles.
- Tight muscles. This helps us get ready to fight or run. We might get headaches or body aches.
- Dry mouth or no appetite. This is because our digestive system slows down.
- Breathing faster or feeling dizzy. This is our body trying to take in more oxygen.
- Sweating more. This is our body trying to keep us cool.
- Feeling full of energy or shaky. This is because our body releases hormones called ‘adrenaline’ and ‘cortisol’.
During a freeze response, we might notice that our:
- Body feels numb
- Muscles feel heavy
- Mind feels foggy
- Heart rate slows down
Trauma responses and shame
After we experience any of these responses, we might feel ashamed. For example:
- If we froze when someone abused us, we might wonder why we responded in this way.
- If we shouted or argued when we felt unsafe, we might feel bad about this afterwards.
But it's important to remember that trauma responses are automatic. We respond like this because our brain and body are trying to protect us.
Try and be kind to yourself. With support and time, you might find you can slow down or stop these reactions.
Trauma responses and our feelings, thoughts and behaviour
Trauma can bring up lots of difficult feelings and emotions. We might feel:
- Frightened
- Anxious
- Overwhelmed
- Helpless
- Worthless
- Sad
- Angry
- Numb
- Guilty or ashamed
We may also feel all our emotions very strongly, including positive ones like happiness. Or we may feel confused about what we're feeling and how to describe it.
For more information, see our page on understanding your feelings.
Trauma might also bring up experiences or behaviours which feel new to us. And they can be hard to cope with. Sometimes these relate to a mental health problem, but we might experience them on their own too:
- Hypervigilance. This means we're always on alert for the next danger.
- Dissociation. We may feel disconnected from ourselves or the world around us.
- Flashbacks. This is when we relive parts of a traumatic event, as if it's happening again. We might see pictures in our mind or feel the same pain or fear. Certain places, people or situations might bring these feelings back.
- Intrusive thoughts. We might think about or remember a traumatic experience, even if we don't want to.
- Problems with sleep. We might struggle with sleep and tiredness, like having nightmares.
- Problems with our memories. We may struggle to remember our experiences or the order that they happened.
- Problems with our confidence. We may feel that we need lots of reassurance from people we trust. Or that we feel uncomfortable to try new things.
- Difficulty concentrating. Because our brain only focuses on threats, we may find it difficult to think clearly.
- Panic attacks. Our body might react as if it's in danger and our heart might beat really fast. We might find it difficult to breathe, or feel dizzy or sick.
- Using alcohol or drugs. We might depend on alcohol or drugs to try and cope with very difficult feelings. For more information about alcohol and drugs, visit the YoungMinds website.
- Self-harm. This is when we hurt ourselves to cope with difficult feelings. To find out more, see our information on self-harm.
- Suicidal feelings. We might think about ending our life, or make plans to do so. For more information, visit the YoungMinds website.
These difficult feelings and experiences can be especially hard to cope with at school. You can find information about coping with problems at school on the YoungMinds website.
It showed up in small, everyday ways like struggling to sleep, zoning out in lessons, feeling jumpy for no obvious reason, or feeling like I was being too sensitive when something triggered me – Yanisha, 18
Trauma responses and our relationships
After experiencing trauma, we might find it hard to relate to or trust others. For example, it might be difficult to trust people if someone has treated us badly in the past. It can also be hard if other people don't understand our trauma or the ways we cope.
This doesn't mean that you can't have positive relationships. You deserve support from people who won't judge you and want to understand what you're going through.
Trauma and mental health problems
Traumatic experiences can contribute to many types of mental health problems, like depression and anxiety.
They might also lead to a diagnosis of:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD)
Going through a traumatic experience doesn't always mean you'll have a mental health problem. But it can make this more likely.
What are the symptoms of PTSD?
Doctors might diagnose you with PTSD if you experience trauma symptoms for more than 1 month. These include:
- Nightmares or difficulty sleeping
- Intrusive thoughts or flashbacks
- Avoiding things related to the traumatic event
- Difficulty concentrating
- Always being on alert, called ‘hypervigilance’
- Being disconnected from ourselves or the world around us, called ‘dissociation’
What are the symptoms of complex PTSD?
Complex PTSD is when you experience PTSD plus other symptoms. These further symptoms could include:
- Finding it really difficult to control your emotions
- Feeling worthless
- Finding it really difficult to build relationships and feel close to people
Health professionals are more likely to diagnose you with complex PTSD if:
- You experienced something traumatic when you were very young
- The traumatic experience lasted for a long time
Complex PTSD is quite a new term. So some professionals might not know as much about it as other mental health problems.
What if I can't get a diagnosis of PTSD or complex PTSD?
We might feel like having a diagnosis would validate our experiences and help us get support. But sometimes it can be hard to get a diagnosis for a mental health problem, even if we feel we need it.
Health professionals might feel that:
- We don't have ‘enough’ of the symptoms for a diagnosis
- We have other symptoms that don't ‘count’ for this type of diagnosis
This could make it difficult to get a diagnosis at all. Or we might get a diagnosis that we weren't expecting, or don't agree with.
For example, complex PTSD has symptoms in common with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Some people with a BPD diagnosis feel they should have a complex PTSD diagnosis instead.
This can feel very upsetting. But your feelings and experiences still matter, whether you have a diagnosis or not.
Need help coping with trauma?
We have tips and ideas on how to cope and where to get support.
Trauma is unique to everyone, and no one will process it in the exact same way as someone else – everyone will have had different experiences and benefit from different things – Evan, 18
Discrimination
Discrimination is when someone treats you differently or unfairly because of:
- Your age
- Your disability
- Your gender
- Your gender identity
- Your sexuality
- Your relationship status
- Your religion or beliefs
- Your race, skin colour or where you were born
- Being pregnant or having a child
In the UK, a law called the Equality Act protects you from discrimination.
Visit our full treatment and support glossary
Trusted adult
A trusted adult is someone older than you who:
- Makes you feel safe
- Listens to you
- Treats you with respect, understanding and care
They will have clear boundaries but will support you when they can. They should know when to look for more help if you need it.
You can decide who you feel is a trusted adult to you. You might know them from somewhere like school, your family, places of worship or clubs for young people.
Trusted adults don't have to be the same people as nearest relatives.
Visit our full treatment and support glossaryTrusted adult
A trusted adult is someone older than you who:
- Makes you feel safe
- Listens to you
- Treats you with respect, understanding and care
They will have clear boundaries but will support you when they can. They should know when to look for more help if you need it.
You can decide who you feel is a trusted adult to you. You might know them from somewhere like school, your family, places of worship or clubs for young people.
Trusted adults don't have to be the same people as nearest relatives.
Visit our full treatment and support glossaryPublished: March 2026
Next review planned: March 2029
We spoke to young people who agreed to give quotes for this page. Their experiences are not related to the people shown in the photos.
References are available on request. If you want to reproduce this content, see our permissions and licensing page.
